1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an articulated fueling crane for fueling transfer operations and particularly for fueling rail supported diesel locomotives and the like. The novel fueling crane has an improved counterbalance which is sealed from the environment and also has a novel drip collector rotatably aligned with an environmental drain for containing fuel dripping from the end of a fueling nozzle fitted at the end of the fueling crane. The articulated fueling crane of this invention is useful for high volume fuel transfer operations where maintenance is irregular and is especially useful in remote locations where maintenance is sparse. The low maintenance, sealed, balanced fueling crane further has an environmental collector to minimize impact of the fueling crane upon the environment. Furthermore, the service life of the fueling cranes of this invention is defined and the fueling cranes are removed at the end of the defined service life and rebuilt for reuse.
2. Prior Art Statement
Fueling cranes are well known in the art. Specifically, fueling cranes are shown in a variety of patents. For instance, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,359 issued on Nov. 20, 1984 to Harry Robertson and the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,727,608 and 5,944,069 issued on Mar. 17, 1998 and Aug. 31, 1999 respectively to Nusbaumer, et al. These patents are drawn to elements of the fueling system and illustrate the specific element with reference to the fueling crane. The known cranes shown in the above-mentioned patents have a counterbalance unit, however, the counterbalance unit is unsealed from the environment and is subject to failure at the chain links immediately above the counterbalance unit. The counterbalance units of the prior art patents also do not return the fuel boom to a position adjacent the nozzle guard and require considerable effort on the part of the fuel boom operator to pull the fueling nozzle toward the fuel tank and hold the fuel nozzle at the fuel tank adapter while securing the fueling nozzle to the fuel tank adapter. Thus, it is possible to spill fuel on the ground between the location of the fuel crane and the fuel tank while drawing the fueling nozzle toward the tank or while the counterbalance attempts to return the fueling nozzle to the position against the nozzle guard. Frequent maintenance is required to keep the cranes of these inventions fully operational.
Further illustrative of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,832, issued on Mar. 28, 1972 to William Meyer. Meyer provides a counterbalanced piping apparatus comprising a base, and inboard conduit swingably connected to the base, an outboard conduit swingably connected to the inboard conduit and an articulated linkage connecting the inboard conduit and the outboard conduit to the base wherein the articulated linkage includes a counterbalancing spring placed in torsion. The counterbalancing spring of Meyer is unprotected from the environment and has no dampening means associated therewith. Therefore, the counterbalanced piping apparatus of Meyer depends upon the skill of the operator to carefully return the outboard nozzle to a storage position. Meyer does not provide for pressure relief, breakaway of the nozzle, collection of dripping from the valve nor containment fuel. The exposed joints of this system require regular maintenance. Krone, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,778 issued on Mar. 27, 1956 provide a dampening spring housed within the counterbalancing spring, however, this dampening spring is also exposed to the environment and therefore is subject to fretting corrosion requiring frequent replacement.
Carl Wilms, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,050,585 and 4,142,551 issued on Sep. 27, 1977 and Mar. 6, 1979 respectively, provides an articulated loading arm comprising a column rotatably supported on a base, a boom rotatable about a first horizontal axis, an outer arm rotatable about a second horizontal axis parallel to the first horizontal axis, a hydraulic cylinder for exerting a couple tending to rotate the boom and a second hydraulic cylinder for exerting a couple tending to rotate the arm about the second axis. The hydraulic cylinders of Wilms operate the loading arm requiring considerable skill by the operator thereof to control the loading arm thus making the loading arm expensive to construct and operate. The linkages of Wilms are also unprotected from the environment and like Meyer above, no means is provided for dampening, pressure relief, breakaway of the nozzle, collection of dripping from the valve nor containment of fuel. Also, pressurized hydraulic fluid systems are typically high maintenance systems and cannot be used in remote locations.
A fluid transport apparatus comprising an inner fluid conducting conduit pivotally mounted on a mounting structure and an outer fluid conducting conduit section pivotally connected to the outer end of the inner conduit has first and second linear control members parallel to the first conduit for hydraulically controlling the attitude of the outer arm with respect to the horizontal axis. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,688 issued on Aug. 29, 1978 to Neal Jameson. The entire mechanism of this device is unprotected from the environment, provides no dampening and has no means for pressure relief, breakaway of the nozzle, collection of dripping from the valve nor containment of fuel. Furthermore, with the multitude of joints in an unsealed environment, maintenance must be frequent.
Finally, it is known to provide a fueling arm comprising a filler-neck coupling and at least eight pipe sections serially connected to each other by respective swivel joints each having only one degree of freedom wherein the first three of the swivel joints have axes of rotation parallel to one another, the fueling arm having a headpiece including the filler-neck rotatably connected by a fourth swivel joint to a third pipe section extending from the third swivel joint, the head piece movable to a position in which three of the swivel joints in the headpiece have axes of rotation parallel to one another and perpendicular to the axes of rotation of the other two swivel joints. For instance, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,874 issued on Apr. 21, 1987 to Meyerinck, et al. A spring package is affixed to two of the pipes of the headpiece wherein the initial tension of the spring is adjusted to support the weight of the filler-neck coupling to always maintain the filler-neck in its position in space. No dampening of the spring package is provided nor does Meyerinck, et al., provide for pressure relief, breakaway of the nozzle, collection of dripping from the valve nor containment of fuel for an environmentally sound fueling station. Furthermore, though the device of Meyerinck, et al., is described as practically wear free and maintenance free, the presence of eight swivel joints and an open spring package obviously requires frequent maintenance. Additionally, a counterbalance is employed to raise the device to an elevated position and thus operator assistance is also required to place the device of Meyerinck, et al., in a storage position.